Transfer ladles of the type under consideration comprise a horizontally elongated cigar shaped transfer container having a bottom drain, the container being supported at each end on a bogie the wheels of which ride on ground-supported or floor-mounted tracks.
It has been customary in the past to design transfer ladles of the aforementioned type, so called pugh-type transfer ladles, which are used for the transport of pig iron from the blast furnace to the steel mill which may on occasion be relatively distant, so that they are rotatable about their longitudinal axis and that they may be drained by way of their top charging hole. In the course of time, a relatively large number of various vessels and ladles, such as are used in the manufacture and the processing of steel, have been provided with bottom drains which can be shut off, and it was no longer necessary to tip them. After the break-through of the sliding closure in the iron and steel industry their use in connection with such vessels has rapidly increased. Inasmuch as a movable bearing and a drive was no longer required with vessels having a bottom drain, not only the structural investment was reduced, but the drainage through a bottom drain had considerable operational advantages over the discharge by way of a pouring lip. Even though comparable advantages could be obtained for pugh-type transfer ladles, there has been no further work with bottom drains. It is true that the use of sliding closures is paired with considerable problems, since they necessitate relatively frequent replacements to renew those refractory parts which are subject to wear. Because of the great weight of the pugh-type transfer ladles with their contents, a large number of vehicle axles must be used, in order to avoid excessive axle loads. As a result, the bogie units occupy practically the entire length of the transfer ladle. While there remains enough space for the sliding closure between the neighboring ends of the bogies, there is no or insufficient access to this closure for the purpose of replacing it.